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What Obama must do

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — President Barack Obama’s reelection slogan is Forward, and his challenge Thursday will be to explain what that would mean in a second term.

He’ll face that test as he formally accepts his nomination, closing out a convention defined in its first two days by Michelle Obama’s surprisingly deep dive into reintroducing the man who’s been president for four years and Bill Clinton’s impassioned, 90s nostalgia-rooted defense of the first-term record.

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But as Obama knows well, elections are about the future, and people in the Time Warner Cable Arena and around the country are looking more for another round of hope and change, burned but not broken.

Even diehard Democrats don’t think Obama can seize command of the campaign — which Mitt Romney and the Republicans have tried to make a referendum on the past four years — without providing more detail on his vision for the next four years. As much as Democrats talk about being swamped by super PAC money, they’re also nervous about the enthusiasm gap between the must-defeat-Obama ranks on display in Tampa last week and Obama’s own dampened and disillusioned supporters.

No one doubts the speech will be engaging. But this isn’t 2008 in Denver.

“He easily hits them out of the ballpark,” said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.). “He’s got to do better than that this time.”

He’ll need to refute Republican attacks that the nation was better off before he got to the Oval Office, tell Americans what he has done to move them forward — and what he will continue to do. Attacking Romney or falling back on his standard rhetoric about the global economic headwinds he faced won’t be enough. He needs to build a positive case for himself.

Enough defense, Democrats say. Obama needs to start living up to that simple slogan he picked and beat the other side on offense.

“The details are in his plan, and what he needs to do is paint a more vivid picture about the plan for the future,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said.

The economy remains the central issue of the election, and Democrats say that should be the president’s focus. That means talking about the proposals he’s already put forward on deficit reduction and tax rates that have been blocked by Congress, and blaming Congress for them. That means harshly pointing out how vague Romney’s been on his own plans. But that also means accentuating those contrasts by laying out what lies ahead.

“The choices this year are as stark as they could possibly be,” Delaware Gov. Jack Markell said. “And so, what I think he needs to do is lay out for the American people what exactly that choice looks like.”

Obama faces a fundamental problem, though: No matter how hard he sells the improvement in the economy and job growth he’ll claim since taking office, he’s not going to be able to say things are good — and Americans will be reminded of that Friday morning when the latest monthly jobs report hits.

Readers' Comments (145)

News flash to Edward-Isaac Dovere: you're not my go-to guy for what President Obama "has to do" to win. This is a make-believe news story. Just give me facts about the policies, programs and philosophies of the candidates, so I can make up my own mind about what they "have to do" to win my vote.

Problem is ,,,,,what if Obama really doesn't have a plan and all we are left with is just another speech?

Could this be Hillary's eery prediction? There are alot of broken campaign promises from 2008, and Obama was in the Senate majority power from 2007 on, what did he do about the economy then? Voted present?

Does Obama and the Democrats even consider the time for inspiration speech is gone, that window closed. What Americans are into is performance, promises kept, records improved, and jobs and the economy strong again. That's a 2nd term POTUS.

Can Obama argue a lame recovery is what we should accept from him? What will be different in term 2? Getiing Hillary voted in for 2016?

Lowered expectations has never worked for America or to get voters to vote a 2nd term,,, just ask Jimmy Carter.

Think about it...what can this incompetent clown say that he hasn't said 4,000 times already. We've had enough empty promises from this fumbling, immature little man and his Keystone Cop administration. Talk, talk, talk....Obama's ONLY skill.

Someone needs to fact check this fact checking article. Someone needs to step up to refute this claim. Sure that Obama's Grandma (former VP of the Bank of Hawaii) had to be looked over from becoming the President of the Bank of Hawaii and left limited to being a lowly Vice President. Also, there must be a feel good story to tell about the $480,908 inherited from the fat cat corrupt capitalist banking system. I am sure all of the "blood money" was donated away to charities where it belongs. It would be a.great PR boon to list all the wonderful charities.

On April 16, 2010, the Washington Post reported that President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama had publicly released their 2009 tax return. “Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, left him stock in the Bank of Hawaii valued at almost $500,000 at the time of her death in November 2008, the tax return shows,” said the Post.

In fact, that tax return is currently posted on the White House website. In a Schedule D, showing "Capital Gains and Losses," it indicates that the Obama’s inherited $480,908 worth of Bank of Hawaii stock. The tax return says the Obama’s sold the stock on Jan. 29, 2009, for $355,029, absorbing a loss of $125,879.

All the rightwing lies were been debunked last night, leaving Romney with nothing but and empty chair and some BS about "killing God".

Actually due to Democrat problems they not only omitted God but made a big boo boon on Israel which may affect the Florida jewish vote. It's their mistakes to correct, but the convention-eers who jeered will be on Romney TV ads.

I can tell you what Obozo "must do". He must get a change of address card from the USPS ( if he hasn't shut most of the post offices in DC down as yet ). Fill it out and mail it prior to January 20, 2013. Obozo must NOT try to steal the White House china like Bill " BJ " Clinton did when he left office. Because President Romney will need it when he takes over the Oval Office . And then Obozo MUST return to that open air cesspool called Chicago where HE belongs !

I posted some time ago a factoid about how since WW II the stock market does better under Democratic presidents and last night Clinton pointed out that since 1961, employment gains are also much better under a Democratic president:

And plenty of other Clinton statistics checked out as accurate. For example, he said that since 1961, when John F. Kennedy took office, 42 million private-sector jobs had been added while Democrats held the White House, compared with 24 million while Republicans were in office. And that’s exactly what Bloomberg News reported in a May 8 story.

The result isn't because the Democrats held the office for more years because the GOP did:

Democrats hold the edge though they occupied the Oval Office for 23 years since Kennedy’s inauguration, compared with 28 for the Republicans.

Get unemployment down to under 7%. But he is out of time to do it. He said himself three weeks into his term that if he did not get the economy going well he did not deserve a second term. Obamacare took the wind out of small business hiring. Why hire another employee when no one knows what the new rules will be (10,000 pages of regs) and 20,000 new IRS goons are running loose? Are you a masochist? So he traded the cramdown on Obamacare (think the Cornhusker Kickback and Louisiana Purchase) for a second term. But, apparantly, that means more to him than a second term, so be it. And no more white guilt syndrome that put him in the first time. One and done on that. No more patronizing please. Vote character and principles not skin color folks. Anything else is horrible karma.